New Guitar - Stupid Question

Ijust got a new guitar, really enjoyed the sound of it. It is a Schecter Diamond Elite Series withOUT the Floyd Rose. Itdoes have a floating bridge though and I am trying to restring it right now. However, there is a boatload of vibration on the E and A strings so far and the D string won't even play, because it is resting against the pickup. This seems to me to indicate the action is too low.

With a floating bridge, so I need to adjust the bridge height every time I restring the guitar? Is this done just by loosening the screws there to raise the string height? Forgive my ignorance, all other guitars I have had were made with a fixed bridge height. Also, every time I try to look this stuff up myself, I just find information on Floyd Rose restringing process, which doesn't seem to be at all what I want. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You can block the floating bridge before taking the strings off, just stick something like a 9volt battery under it between it and the back plate, that will stop the bridge lowering when the strings are off and means you won't have to set up it again.

Or remove and restring each string one at a time to keep the tension.

That's what I do but then again I try to mess with the floatiness of it as little as possible (out of fear mainly)

You can block the floating bridge before taking the strings off, just stick something like a 9volt battery under it between it and the back plate, that will stop the bridge lowering when the strings are off and means you won't have to set up it again.

+1

Also, you never want to remove all the strings at once. That immediate loss of tension can and probably will damage your guitar neck over time.

If you change string gauge that will also effect the tension put on the springs. Changing to a lighter gauge will get the problem you are talking about..low action , buzzing, bridge sitting low in the guitar. Heavier string will do the opposite... high action, bridge sitting high above the cavity. These have to be corrected by adjusting the claw (spring tension) inside the guitar. I would recommend a guitar tech if you are changing gauges. Once you decide on a gauge you like stick with it. Good luck Bro.

This is good info guys, thanks a ton. I adjusted the height of the bridge and it eliminated most of the problem, still some minor buzzing with the first and second frets. My guess is that I did end up changing the gauges of the strings. I prefer light, and being a Schecter, maybe the previous owner had mediums? I suppose I could send him a note and ask.

@DanielM, thanks for the tip!

guitarslinger124, I am surprised by this information. I have always done it this way, since it allows me to keep my guitar clean and my frets well taken care of. I know having no strings on can affect the neck, but I thought this wasn't an issue if only off for about 15 minutes or so. Regardless, I will heed the advice and switch strings out one at a time from now on! It needed to be cleaned. Unfortunately when I picked it up (craigslist), it was filthy. Played fine though, so it wasonly mildly annoying that I needed to thoroughly clean the guitar. I am anal when it comes to the cleanliness of my instruments.

@tinyskateboard, it is red! I will post pics in the bear future.

@Moshzilla1016, yeah this makes a lot of sense. Hopefully if I need to have this done, the tech will let me watch and learn. I don't want to be dependent on others for things I can do myself. It is one thing to lean on a community of people for knowledge, something totally different imo to lean on others to do things you can do yourself. I want to be able to solve technical issues myself if I can! :o)

I totally agree. You can do it yourself. I just recommended the tech for the reason DanielM mentioned..fear. I learned how to make the adjustments from the manual that came with my tremolo. With a little studying and some common sense it's not that difficult. Looking forward the pics. Congrats dude!

guitarslinger124, I am surprised by this information. I have always done it this way, since it allows me to keep my guitar clean and my frets well taken care of. I know having no strings on can affect the neck, but I thought this wasn't an issue if only off for about 15 minutes or so. Regardless, I will heed the advice and switch strings out one at a time from now on! It needed to be cleaned. Unfortunately when I picked it up (craigslist), it was filthy. Played fine though, so it wasonly mildly annoying that I needed to thoroughly clean the guitar. I am anal when it comes to the cleanliness of my instruments.

I change my three at a time. Three bass strings then three treble stings.

I thought that its kind of an myth to damage neck or something when changing all strings at time, I thought that if you have tremolo bridge, it could affect the tension, that is re-adjustable stuff... isn't it. I think there are two schools of this issue...

I know that if you take all the strings off, all the pressure is off from the neck, but I dont think it will harm it, just make the neck relax, when changing strings back, it will take time to get to pressure back or get used to the pressure, so you may encounter a difficulties if you dont have time to wait.

I usually clean and polish my guitar just before I change the strings. You have to get a rag under the strings and around the pickups but it is not much of a problem. I do this before I change the strings because I can spray polish and not have to worry about getting it on the strings since I am going to change them anyway.

I am not sure about electric guitar necks but I never remove all the strings on my Taylor at once. Wood moves when tension is applied or released. You cannot see it but your neck is flexing and applying movement where it is attached to the body. Have you ever noticed how long it takes to get all of your strings tuned after you remove all of them? This is due to the fact that they have to pull the neck back where it was before the tension was released.

Have you ever noticed how long it takes to get all of your strings tuned after you remove all of them? This is due to the fact that they have to pull the neck back where it was before the tension was released.
!

Yes, and thats why it not adviced before gigs or alike, but some of the experts told me that it not damage the neck. It only takes time to pressure back.

I have a BC Rich Warlock that I've owned for 25 years. I take all the strings off and clean everything, like Btim does, before putting the new strings back on. I have never had a problem with this. A hard maple neck with a truss rod will not move when you take off the strings. If you leave them off for a week or a month, then you might have a problem. If nothing else is changed like height of bridge or springs, you should only have to tune to pitch two or three times.